November 30th

November 30 is the 334th day of the year (335th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 31 days remaining until the end of the year.
On this day, 1940 - Lucille Ball marries Desi Arnaz in Greenwich, Connecticut.
The picture (right) of their 10th anniversary is both poignant and nostalgic. Lucy would say, years later, that Desi was the love of her life. They both stated that they never stopped loving each other. Desi's attitude towards marriage came from a strong Cuban background where the men led an "active" life outside the bonds of matrimony. Lucy being a traditional American woman, could not accept such a lax attitude towards monogamy. Love, however, could not be easily extinguished. Apart, they could finally find peace. Sharing their two children, Lucy and Desi, kept them emotionally close for the rest of their lives. They will be remembered for the joy they brought into countless lives through music and comedy. The world will never forget them.

November 29th

2001 - Following a battle with cancer that began in 1998, Beatles' lead guitarist George Harrison dies from his ailment at the age of 58. He was surrounded by his family. His contribution to the music world will long be remembered.
With the Beatles and as a solo artist, George wrote many classic songs like "Taxman", "Within You Without You", "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", "Here Comes the Sun", "All Things Must Pass", "My Sweet Lord", "All Those Years Ago", "This is Love" and "Any Road".
Frank Sinatra once said of George's song "Something", "it's the greatest love song of the past fifty years". "Something" also became the second most covered Beatles song ever, after "Yesterday".
Six years later we still remember this remarkable musician. Martin Scorsese has committed to direct an untitled documentary about the life of George Harrison. Scorsese will produce with Harrison's widow Olivia and Nigel Sinclair in a co-production between Scorsese's Sikelia Prods., Harrison's Grove Street Prods., and Sinclair's Spitfire Pictures. The film is being constructed as a theatrical release, and the Harrison family will supply materials from its extensive archive. Interviews and early production will begin later this year, and the film will take several years to complete.
Olivia, George's widow stated, "It would have given George great joy to know that Martin Scorsese has agreed to tell his story."

Friction Match

November 27: On this Day in Science History.
In 1826, John Walker (1781-1859), an English pharmacist from Stockton-on-Tees, invented the first practical, strike-anywhere, friction match, but refused to patent his creation. He used three-inch splints of wood, tipped with potassium chlorate, antimony sulphide, and gum arabic. The match head was ignited by drawing it through a fold of fine glasspaper. By 1829, similar matches called "Lucifers" were sold throughout London. Their difference was added sulphur to aid combustion, and white phosphorus. Matchmaking workers quickly developed a bone disease called "phossy jaw" from the phosphorus. Phosphorus sesquisulphide replaced the deadly white phosphorus in the strike-anywhere match during the early twentieth century.

On this day: November 19 in 1863

At the end of the Battle of Gettysburg, more than 51,000 Confederate and Union soldiers were wounded, missing, or dead. Many of those who died were laid in makeshift graves along the battlefield. Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin commissioned David Wills, an attorney, to purchase land for a proper burial site for the deceased Union soldiers. Wills acquired 17 acres for the cemetery, which was planned and designed by landscape architect William Saunders.
The cemetery was dedicated on November 19, 1863 . The main speaker for the event was Edward Everett, one of the nations foremost orators. President Lincoln was also invited to speak as Chief Executive of the nation, formally to set apart these grounds to their sacred use by a few appropriate remarks. At the ceremony, Everett spoke for more than 2 hours; Lincoln spoke for 2 minutes. President Lincoln had thought his speech to be too short and less than notable. We now call Lincoln's speech The Gettysburg Address as if it were the only speech delivered that day. The official program listed Everett as the Oration speaker and Lincoln as the giver of Dedicatory Remarks.
Everett's speech, which took two hours, was expected to run long, although it caused the crowd to grow restless. A New York Times reporter noticed that during its delivery, "there were as many people wandering about the fields, made memorable by the fierce struggles of July, as stood around the stand listening to his eloquent speech."
Despite popular stories, historians agree that Lincoln did not whip up his "remarks" on the back of an envelope enroute from Washington. His effort was the product of a lifetime from a man known for study and deep reflection. He wrote at least half or more of it on White House stationery before his trip, and apparently applied finishing touches in his room at the Wills house in which he stayed. Lincoln, ever a painstaking writer, also knew that words from his presidential pen would be highly scrutinized.

Word for today: Anachronisms

Something located at a time when it could not have existed or occurred
An artifact that belongs to another time
A person who seems to be displaced in time; who belongs to another age

The First Thanksgiving: What really happened.

THE WAY AMERICA envisions that first Thanksgiving, goes something like this: Civilized European pilgrims set out across the Atlantic Ocean, and were rewarded with an entire continent of untold wealth. Oh sure there were a few unclothed savages already there, but they were not a problem that couldn't be dealt with. Journals and letters written by those first settlers contain accounts of plundering native stores of food, tools and furs. If the Pilgrims found it, they took it. After working, praying and surviving a bitter winter, the Pilgrim Fathers brought in a bountiful harvest produced by careful tending of seeds that they had brought from home. Inviting their heathen neighbors to join them, the Pilgrims gave thanks for their New World and its riches at a meal consisting of turkey, squash, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. Afterwards, the men sat around smoking and telling stories while the women cleaned up. Now for the Native American side of the story:

What really happened was more like this: After two months and two deaths on the Mayflower crossing in 1620, the Pilgrims landed on the coast of Massachusetts, where an Algonquin-speaking group, the Wampanoags, lived. Clad in leather garments (adding furs during the winter) these native peoples skillfully cultivated corn, beans, squashes and pumpkins; hunted the woods for deer, elk and bear; and fished for salmon and herring. Like other members of what anthropologists now call the Woodland Culture, the Wampanoags looked upon deer, fish and turtle as totemic siblings, and had deep respect for every natural creature. When they hunted, they left offerings for other forest inhabitants, and they would never think of planting or harvesting without giving thanks for the fertility of Mother Earth. From where the natives sat--especially one named Squanto, who'd learned English after having been sold into slavery a few years earlier, these Pilgrims were in deep buffalo chips. The wheat brought from Europe was completely unsuited to the New England soil and failed to germinate. Half the settlers died during the first winter. Squanto and his friends took pity on this sorry situation and brought venison and furs to these unfortunate white men. He taught them how to plant corn using fish as fertilizer, how to dig clams, how to tap maple trees for syrup. The Algonquin tribes already had the custom of celebrating six different thanksgiving festivals during the year, and one of those happened to coincide with a dinner party thrown by Miles Standish and company. Standish invited Squanto and a few of his friends and their families to come on down and share a meal. More than 90 Indians showed up. The Pilgrim menu wasn't going to cover that many guests. So a few of the Algonquin men went out and came back with five deer, enough for three solid days of cross-cultural feasting. Here's what was actually on that menu: venison, wild duck, wild geese, eels, clams, squash, corn bread, berries and nuts. That meal was one of the last untroubled moments the whites and natives spent together. Within 50 years, most of the Woodland peoples had been killed, claimed by European diseases or--if lucky--disappeared into the woods. Today, there are still 500 Wampanoags living in New England. They do not celebrate the American Thanksgiving.

Historical Perspectives

What is history? It is anything that has already happened. It is one hundred years ago or one second ago. Now is but a fleeting concept. We are all living history. I am here to explore the past as well as history in the making. Today is history. The Iraq war is now and yesterday. We can learn from history. We can savor its memories and relive the good times. We can learn from its mistakes and repeat its victories. Who knows what tomorrow brings? We certainly know what yesterday brought us and can use it to our advantage. Here's to actively making history, yesterday, today and tomorrow!